SEPANG, March 11 — A total of 163 Malaysians stranded in several West Asian countries arrived home at 12.32 pm today on the country’s first evacuation flight.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the group comprised umrah pilgrims in Saudi Arabia as well as Malaysians in Qatar, Jordan and Syria, who were affected by flight schedule disruptions and airspace closures in the region.

The chartered Malaysia Airlines flight MH8503 for the Operation to Evacuate Malaysians from the West Asia Conflict Zone, which departed from Jeddah early this morning, also carried seven non-citizen family members comprising five Thai nationals, one Indonesian and one Moroccan national. — Bernama